Epilogue

Three short yet sleepless months later…

It's November now. Winter has come to New Berk.

Becky and I are standing at the front of the crowd with our friends and family, with our sweet jewel Ruby in Becky's arms.

It's finally time for Hiccup and Astrid to get married.

They both look their best, Astrid in a white dress with gold Deadly Nadder pins on her white fur cloak and Hiccup in a white tunic and tan pants and brown boots, wearing his father's cloak with gold Night Fury pins.

The hand-fasting is performed by Gothi. Becky and I forwent that tradition during our wedding ceremony just last year.

Gothi places her staff over the hand-fasting cloth and declares Hiccup and Astrid married.

Hiccup and Astrid kiss.

"To the chief and chieftess!"

Ruby giggles, especially when she and her mum both see I've caught the bouquet that Gobber accidentally threw.

"I'll pass this on to your sister." I whisper to my wife, winking at her. She smirks at me, knowing that although Gobber and I are still close friends, we won't be any more than that, with a new baby and all. And, of course, my undying love for my dear wife, Becky.

"Cry into my full thick beard." We hear Tuffnut tell Snotlout.

Fishlegs is crying nearby, undoubtedly happily.

"So beautiful!"

"Okay, you win. I like sensitive guys."

I see my mother-in-law beam at her blonde daughter's choice.

Soon we, with the newlyweds at the lead, head to the edge of New Berk.

~.~

Four years later, Ruby is the spitting image of her mother at four years old, and as bright as her mother, too. She's also got her father's wit, if I do say so myself.

Ruffnut and Fishlegs have since gotten married, Ruby as their little flower girl, Becky as her matron of honor, me and Tuffnut as best men. When Ruby was two, Ruffnut and Fishlegs had their first child, a girl, they named Hanna.

Tuffnut and Jasmine have since broken up, and Snotlout has gotten Tuffnut's attention. I guess Snotnut's a thing now…

Don't tell them I said that.

Ruby's Aunt Ruffnut and Uncle Tuffnut do seem to get our daughter into quite a bit of trouble, and her fair share of scrapes and bruises, but Becky and I do our best to keep our sweet jewel on the straight and narrow…well, so to speak.

I say "so to speak" because 'straight'? Who knows? No matter who our daughter ends up loving and wishing to marry, as long as they treat her right and make her happy, they're fine with Becky and me.

As for the chief and chieftess, they've just welcomed a new baby - a girl – into the world. Her name is Zephyr and she is the future chief of Berk, if she so wishes to take the title after her father retires.

~.~

Six years later, and Ruby, now 10, has grown more and more beautiful with each passing day.

Four years ago, Hiccup and Astrid welcomed a baby boy named Nuffink, when Zephyr was two and Ruby was six. How time flies when you have children of your own.

We tell our children the stories of the times when there were…

"Dad! Quit talking to yourself. Uncle Chief Hiccup is about to tell us the story of when there were dragons!" My 10-year old daughter quite literally shakes me out of my thoughts and memories and I join her, her mother, six-year-old Zephyr, four-year-old Nuffink, Astrid, eight-year-old Hanna, Ruffnut, Fishlegs, Tuffnut and Snotlout and the rest of the children on Berk as we listen to our chief tell the story of the dragons.

"There were dragons when I was a boy." He begins.

"Ah, there were great, grim sky dragons that nested on the clifftops like gigantic scary birds."

(I now realize, as I'm writing this and listening/watching the end of the movie to get the dialogue, that Toothless and his family was on a clifftop in the epilogue in the movie! So cool!)

"Little brown scuttly dragons that hunted down the mice and rats in well-organized packs. Preposterously huge sea dragons that were twenty times as big as the big blue whale! Some say they crawled back into the sea, leaving not a bone nor a fang for men to remember them by. Others say they were nothing but folktales to begin with. I'm okay with that. Legend says, that when the ground quakes, or lava spews from the Earth, it's the dragons, letting us know they're still here, waiting for us to figure out how to get along. Yes, the world believes the dragons are gone, if they ever existed at all. But we Berkians, we know otherwise. And we'll guard the secret until the time comes when dragons can return in peace."

That, dear readers, is the story of becoming a hero, the hard way.

No, my dear readers, this isn't the end of Becky and Eret's story. One one-shot told of Ruby becoming a big sister, another told of Becky's true paternal heritage. It wouldn't be fair for those storylines to not come to be when they have so much potential.

Until next time, be safe, be smart, be yourself!

Corny, I know. I think Eret's rubbing off on me.